Page 3 - Ground Controller News Today

May have turned out differently. >> reporter: a lost signal, a vanished plane and on the ground a feeling of complete helplessness. an idea has circulated to put planes on remote control. in 2004 boeing applied for a patent for a system referred to as uninterruptive autopilot. >> ground controller could now take operation away from the pilots so they wouldnt have control over the throttles, and now this would be handled from the ground. everything now from the pilots tried to do would be consequ...

But an idea has surfaced to put auto pilot on passenger planes on remote control in stressful situations. in 2004, boeing applied for a patent for a system referred to as ub interruptible auto pilot. >> the ground controller could now take control away from the pilots so they wouldnt have control over the throttle, the yoke or the rudder pedals. that would be handled by the ground. everything the pilots tried to do would be inconsequential. >> pilots could flick a switch when under stress and se...

Remote control from the ground in the event of an emergency. in a situation of distress, in this scenario, the pilot could flick a switch or maybe some kind of a sensor could trigger the autopilot. the autopilot could then be activated by radio or satellite. and our aviation analyst, mark weise, explains what would happen next. >> everything now that the pilots who try to do would be inconsequential. because the ground controller would be handling its flight path, its landing gear, its flap syst...

Have saved that plane. >> if they determined this was a problem and they tried to get in touch with the pilot and co-pilot and they couldnt, then if that system were in place, it seems as though the ground controller could then have landed this aircraft. >> reporter: right now autopilot systems are manually switched is on and off only at the discretion of the pilots in the air. autopilot cannot land or take off. it could present a new problem. this system wouldnt be hack proof. >> this wouldnt b...

Against. you are going to need transmissions from the individual who is at a time when you know he is not under stress. thats why it would be important to get the actual recordings as bill has said of the back and forth between the ground controllers and the aircraft. that last transmission, "all right. good night." raises a couple of questions. whats all right? good night said this is the last im going to talk to you. there was an agreement between the controller and the copilot if that was him...

>> good afternoon to you and yours. its 3:00 on the east coast. noon on the west coast. first, a big clue in the mystery of the missing airlines jet could lie in the last words from the cockpit. what -- who said them, and did that person know what was about to happen? moments after he radioed the ground controller, all right, good night. its now been ten days since the jumbo jet vanished while flying from malaysia to beijing with 239 people onboard. investigators say its obvious to them this was...